Don’t look down

The poster for the original high-concept blockbuster Jaws is one of the most iconic ever created. It is an expression of pure primal fear, tapping into the most basic of human nightmares, and encapsulating the thrill of the film in one powerful image.

The tip of the shark’s nose is perfectly on target for the female, whose nudity accentuates the risk. She is defenceless and oblivious to the imminent threat. The poster shark is far larger than that in the movie. Indeed, it is too large to fit on the poster. We see only it’s huge mouth, gaping wide, exposing razor teeth, black eyes either side, ready to swallow the girl in one mouthful. That vertical ascent is how a Great White does kill, but the main purpose of the angle is to highlight that deadly mouth.

It is the horror of the unseen predator, as big as our imaginations, our lurking fears writ large, which we cannot hope to defeat. And yes, like so many iconic images throughout human history, it’s definitely phallic.

The artwork was painted by Roger Kastel for the Peter Benchley bestseller the movie was based on, the original drawing by Paul Bacon being deemed too tame. Kastel was instructed to make the shark bigger and more realistic, and the naked swimmer was straight from the opening chapter of the book, the shark’s first victim.

Roger has had a hugely successful career as a working artist illustrating book covers, magazines and posters, although none of his other work ever touched the iconic purity of Jaws. The original painting was roughly 20 by 30 inches, but went missing years ago, either lost or stolen, and Roger hasn’t seen the canvas since, although it is reproduced continually, embedded in popular culture.

It is an image that doesn’t need a tagline, although the one used in the adverts was just as primal: don’t go in the water. As economical as the film’s title. As lean and mean as John Williams’ two note theme. Basic enough to instill a life-long fear of swimming in many, to get millions flocking to the big screen for a carnival rollercoaster ride.

2 thoughts on “Don’t look down”

Jaws is still one of my favourite films but I was a little too young to see it at the cinema in 1975. Instead, I grew up terrified of sharks because of a British comic creation directly inspired by Jaws and that iconic artwork. The comic was Action and the strip was HookJaw – get a load of these pics and imagine them being absorbed by an impressionable 8 year old…https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=hookjaw&source=lnms&tbm=isch

I was also too young to see it at the time. But walking past a row of Great White photos in a cinema foyer, combined with that poster being everywhere, scared the living crap out of me. Think I remember vaguely HookJaw, back in the days when Brit comics used to rip off US movies like there was no tomorrow (pretty sure there was a Dirty Harry style series). Brilliant pics, just pure primal fear. Good call!